Survival

Kirksville overcame two weeks off and held on to beat Moberly 44-37, and advance to the district championship game

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By Ryan Ronan @RyanRonan_KDE

Kirksville Daily Express - Kirksville, MO

By Ryan Ronan @RyanRonan_KDE

Posted Mar. 2, 2013 at 1:06 PM
Updated Mar 2, 2013 at 1:10 PM

By Ryan Ronan @RyanRonan_KDE

Posted Mar. 2, 2013 at 1:06 PM
Updated Mar 2, 2013 at 1:10 PM

MEXICO, Mo. – The Kirksville Lady Tigers were charged with beating the Moberly Lady Spartans for the third time this year, after being off for over two weeks. It took KHS more than awhile to get going and they had to hold on for dear life late, but they beat Moberly 44-37, and will now face Mexico in the Class 4 District 8 championship game.

After jumping out 7-2 Kirksville saw Moberly go on a 10-2 run to take the lead with just over five minutes to play before halftime. The Lady Tigers then made a run of their own, outscoring Moberly 15-2 to close out the first half with a 24-14 lead. The run was sparked by six Lady Spartan turnovers and another possession that ended with a Nichole Cook blocked shot, which allowed KHS to score eight points on transition layups. Tack on two McKenzie Russell three-pointers and an Ashton Vorkink free throw and the Kirksville ladies were looking good as they cruised into halftime with a double-digit lead.

“It was really messy and we knew it was going to be tough having not played in over two weeks, but we survived to play another day and that’s all that matters,” said Russell.

“Survive” is they key word. After it looked like Kirksville was primed to run away with this game as they did so many NCMC games this season but, the Lady Spartans decided to not let that happen. Moberly answered the Kirksville run with a 12-2 run of their own which tied the game at 26-26. Then the Lady Spartans then turned it over on the next two possessions and then quickly found themselves down. They never got down by more than four until the final seconds, but were unable to ever tie or take the lead again.

“You could tell we haven’t played in two weeks and that we didn’t get to practice very much because of the snow. I knew it was going to be a little ugly but I thought we did what we had to make sure we came out on top. There was some bad decision making there for awhile but they showed a lot of heart,” said Kirksville head coach Sara Williams.

Although KHS took the lead in the second quarter and never officially gave it up, possibly the biggest play of the Lady Tigers season came with just over a minute to play and holding a slim 39-37 lead. After working the ball around for over a minute, Williams called timeout, and out of that timeout Russell took the ball from the wing, drove hard to the rim and converted on a layup that would double the lead to 41-37.

“I heard coach saying ‘go to the basket.’ My instinct just kicked in and I took it to the hoop and knew that we needed it right then. If I would have missed it I could have blown the game, so it could have gone either way. But it didn’t and we came out on top,” said Russell.

Page 2 of 2 - Kirksville held Moberly to just two shots in the final 2:20 of the fourth quarter, one was a free throw, and the other was a desperation three-point attempt with under 20 seconds left that hit nothing but the floor. Depending on the point of view, KHS really tightened up the defense with their season hanging in the balance, or they worked their offense assuring they would only come away with layup opportunities.

“I think the big thing was that we became more patient on offense and realized that the clock is running down and that they have to come foul you when they are down. So I think a big part of that is the ball was just in our hands more,” said Williams.

Russell added 10 more points to her two big three-point buckets to finish with 16. Vorkink also scored 16 in limited duty as she picked up two first quarter fouls and finished the game with four.

The Mexico Lady Bulldogs pulled the upset that Moberly couldn’t as they beat the No. 2 seed Helias Catholic 40-37 in the second girls semifinal. This means Kirksville will be looking to beat another team for the third time in one season when they play on Saturday evening at 6.

“We get to enjoy this win for maybe 30 minutes, so we will soak up our glory when we can. But for tomorrow we have to come out focused and work on everything, including the little things that no one even thinks about,” said Russell.